Arts Student of the Week: Oliver Sitja Sichel

Although Oliver Sitja Sichel's main instrument is the clarinet, he can also play piccolo clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, oboe, and saxophone. "But I'm best at clarinet," Sichel confessed. "I learned to play in sixth grade by playing it through school and then I just kept on playing. What got me interested in clarinet was school. It was the instrument I was assigned in sixth grade and music has always interested me. So, it only made sense for me to continue with it."

Wade Hendricks, the Director of Bands at Niwot High School, selected Sichel as Arts Student of the Week. "He has proven himself to be an extremely talented and hard-working clarinetist and fully deserves all of the recognitions he has earned this year," Hendricks said.

Sichel also plays with the Longmont Youth Symphony. "Music is fun," Sichel said. "I do it and I find success with it, so it is something I'll keep pursuing."

Professional clarinetists like Martin Fröst and Doreen Ketchens have had a very large impact on Sichel's playing and their style is the way he wants to sound on the clarinet. In addition, individual musicians he knows, including his teachers Keynes Chen and Wade Hendricks, and his middle school band director Stephanie Texera, have all influenced him. Sichel says that Tchaikovsky is his favorite composer.

"Oliver auditioned for and was selected to participate in the Colorado All-State Band," Hendricks said. Last November, Sichel submitted his audition, including a few scales and a few performance excerpts. "From there, adjudicators listened to my audition and scored it and based on that score I was selected into the second clarinet position of the band. It's been a goal of mine since last year, and I'm truly happy to have gotten in."

Sichel's experience at Niwot High School has been incredibly positive, he said. It has consistently pushed him to try new things, to constantly improve his playing, and to improve himself as a person. "I've always had amazing teachers and there are always a lot of very good musicians here at NHS," Sichel said.

When speaking about memorable moments during his performances, Sichel recalled that once, about thirty minutes before a performance, his clarinet broke. "It was very stressful," he said, "and I had to borrow my teacher's instrument for the performance."

In addition to music, Sichel loves speed-solving Rubik's cubes and competes frequently. Sichel's current best in competition is a 4.75. He plans to finish out his senior year at NHS and then go to college for something related to music. "But my plans aren't too fleshed out yet," he admitted.